"No More Delays"... Opposition Party Moves Toward Unilateral Committee Approval

Minju Likely to Force Through 11 Standing Committees in Plenary Session
Securing Judiciary Committee to Address Lee Jae-myung's Judicial Risks
People Power Party Claims Majority Share in Committee Formation Amidst Standoff

As the ruling and opposition parties have failed to find common ground on the formation of the 22nd National Assembly's first half, the Democratic Party of Korea is increasingly likely to unilaterally pass the proposal to elect standing committee chairpersons at the plenary session on the 10th. The Democratic Party plans to first secure 11 standing committee chairpersons, including the Judiciary Committee, Steering Committee, and Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, which were allocated to their party.

Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, addressing Speaker Woo Won-sik, "As previously declared, I request that the plenary session be held today in accordance with the National Assembly Act to form the leadership. Please make a decision."

The Democratic Party had earlier submitted a list of candidates for standing committee chairpersons to the National Assembly on the 7th to form the leadership. According to the list, candidates were assigned for 11 standing committee chairpersons, including Jeong Cheong-rae for the Judiciary Committee, Park Chan-dae for the Steering Committee, Choi Min-hee for the Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, and Maeng Seong-gyu for the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

From the Democratic Party's perspective, the situation became urgent as the 'judicial risk' of leader Lee Jae-myung resurfaced. Last week, the first trial court sentenced Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, to 9 years and 6 months in prison in connection with Ssangbangwool's illegal remittance to North Korea. The court recognized the suspicion that Lee Hwa-young, at the request of former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Seong-tae, paid for Lee Jae-myung's trip to North Korea.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is talking with Assemblyman Hwang Myung-sun at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The Democratic Party plans to respond with a special prosecutor law. They intend to propose the so-called 'Special Prosecutor Law on North Korea Remittance Prosecutorial Manipulation' to halt the prosecution's investigation. For this reason, the Democratic Party can no longer delay securing the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee in the National Assembly. They aim to appoint the pro-Lee Jae-myung hardliner Jeong Cheong-rae as the Judiciary Committee chairperson to immediately prepare counter-legislation such as 'prosecutor impeachment.'

Speaker Woo also places weight on holding the plenary session that day. The Speaker's office explained, "If it is difficult to reach an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, we have no choice but to comply with the National Assembly Act," adding, "The deadline for leadership formation has already passed, and the plenary session can be held at any time."

On the other hand, the People Power Party is also devising countermeasures to secure the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. Their position is that if the ruling party secures the Judiciary and Steering Committees as per convention, they will then negotiate the rest of the leadership formation. A floor official of the People Power Party emphasized, "We will keep all possible methods and options open to fight and will expose the unfairness rushing to save leader Lee Jae-myung."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.